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Whilst many medical conditions have become more easily treated over recent decades, allergies seem to have bucked this trend. Increasing numbers of people, especially in the Western world, suffer from one or more allergy, with the most common intolerances being towards pollen, house dust mites and certain foodstuffs, including cow’s milk, peanuts and various kinds of seafood.

The researchers at DBV-Technologies (http://www.dbv-technologies.com/en/) have been paying particular attention to one specific approach to building up the body’s ‘tolerance levels’ to the offending antigens. It’s called epicutaneous immunotherapy and it opens the door to the pain-free ‘desensitization’ of allergy sufferers to substances like cow’s milk protein and peanuts.

Taking the shape of an adhesive patch called the Viaskin® patch (see below), this technology works by solubilizing allergens in very small quantities and delivering them into the body via the skin. The skin is not pierced in any way and allergens are not delivered directly into the bloodstream, but into the Langerhans cells in the epidermis. This is a much safer approach than allergy treatments involving antigen injections, and is obviously a particularly attractive option when dealing with young children or babies.